Confession Rehearsal
by SmartByChance
Summary: Nikki wants to confess to her crush, and uses Max as a practice dummy to get it just right. He doesn't appreciate that. Rated T, for somewhat intense swearing. Nikki x Max. One-shot.


The green haired girl sat at her desk as she clicked her pen against the desk repeatedly, counting the seconds until the school bell. Her leg was fidgeting nervously, and her nerdy friend clearly noticed something was wrong with her behavior but decided not to say anything for the time being. The bell rang, and she quickly grabbed her backpack, stuffing her folder and shit inside. As soon as she did this, she grabbed her other friend's arm, gulping a bit. At this point in time, everyone else had already shuffled out, including the nerd in their group, and the teacher.

"Nikki, what-"

"Sorry, I know it's sudden and all," she stammered out nervously, clutching his sleeve even tighter than she already been. "But I've liked you for a really long time now!" Her heart was beating out of her chest, and she looked up to meet his shocked gaze. He was about to say something, when she cut him off and smiled goofily. "So ends my confession rehearsal! Did you think I was for real? No way." She laughed.

His shocked expression quickly turned into one of irritation and discomfort.

"Come on, Max!" She smiled, peering up at him. "Was I cute? Maybe made your heart beat? Lighten up, will ya?"

"Hold up," He put his hand out in front of him, annoyed. "Are you gonna get serious now?"

"What?"

"You're a real jerk for messing with me like that." He grabbed his bag and began to make his way out of the classroom to meet up with their other friend who was waiting for them in the hall. She followed after him. "Hey, guys, if you don't mind, can we make a stop on our way home?"

"Do we have to go the long way?" Their friend sighed.

"If you don't mind."

"Whatever." The nerd rolled his eyes, then turned to the green haired girl. "Is that okay with you, Nikki?"

Nikki blinked a bit, not quite sure what was being said, as she had already gotten lost in her own thoughts. She nodded anyway. "Um, sure."

Max turned his gaze away from the two and began to walk in the direction of the exit, a disheartened feeling piercing his chest, getting stronger with each step, but he continued to ignore it. It wasn't the first time Nikki had messed with him like that, and it definitely won't be the last, he knew that. He just wished Nikki had more respect for him than to just use him as a practice dummy for whoever she was really planning on confessing to, and she, for some reason, just wouldn't tell him who it was.

"Hey, Nikki?"

"Yeah, Neil?"

"Why were you so nervous in the classroom before the bell rang? You were fidgeting as if you only had two seconds left to live."

Max's ears perked up as Nikki took a breath to answer the curious nerd, "It was nothing. I was just excited to get out of the classroom. I told you millions of times before, I need nature. Being an air conditioned classroom makes me feel cramped and suffocated."

"You didn't... look... excited... you looked like you were about to die." Neil peered over at his green haired friend with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yep!" Nikki smiled brightly. "I'm A-okay, don't worry!"

"It's my job to worry, Nik." Neil chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

The three carried on like this for about another fifteen minutes or so until they finally reached their destination. Max went inside, while the Nikki and Neil stayed outside the door, casually talking to each other. Minutes passed and Max came back out with a bag of groceries. After a brief conversation asking about what he bought, the three favored talking about whether or not they were going to summer camp that upcoming summer. They switched topics quite a lot... from summer camp, to farm animals, to interior designs, to badmouthing teachers. Laughing and giggling erupted in the air as they stopped by Neil's house. The other two waved to their friend as he ran into his actually very expensive-looking house. The two walked in silence for a few minutes until Max decided to strike up a conversation.

"So who is this lucky guy you're confessing to? If I'm going to be used as a practice dummy, I'd like to know who I'm helping."

"Max-"

"No, I'm serious. Who is it?"

Nikki rolled her eyes, her smile still present on her face. "You'll find out tomorrow. No more rehearsals, I promise. I hope he says yes..." She mumbled.

He glanced to her and smiled, trying as hard as he could to hide the smirk that was threatening to appear. "Our very own Nikki is stressing about some dumb guy?" He asked with a stifled laugh.

"If you knew who it was, you wouldn't call him stupid..." She sighed.

"Well, whatever," He corrected his posture and smiled genuinely at her, despite feeling the pain still tugging at his heart. "If he says no to you, then he's going on my blacklist."

"M-Max..." She sweatdropped, awkwardly laughing a bit. "Jeez, if only you knew who it was."

"Let's see, then. Do I know him?"

"Yes, very well."

"Okay... do I like him?"

"Eh, it's hard to say."

"Oh... well, did he go to summer camp the last few years with us?"

"Y-Yeah, he did..."

Max smirked at the new information. "Thanks for helping me limit the list to about half of what it was before..."

"Doesn't matter. You're going to find out tomorrow anyway." She gave a careless shrug.

He smiled at her carefree behavior, somewhat envious of how she's always able to put a smile on her face, even when things aren't going right. He stopped walking as he watched her, still smiling. She turned back to look at him in confusion, and he gestured to his right, causing her to look, just to see she was home. She smiled at Max and waved a bit. "Thanks for walking me home, Max. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Can't wait to find out who you're crushing on~" He teased a bit with a small wave. He watched her retreat back into her own home, and quickly placed his gaze back onto the sidewalk in front of him. He felt sad, knowing he may not even approve of the guy she likes, but felt somewhat relieved she had finally found someone, even if it wasn't him, like he always hoped it would be.

Meanwhile, Nikki had rushed right to the washroom, preparing to take a long bath, as she didn't want to be unclean when she asks her crush out the next day. After a minute, she locked the door and got in the sudsy tub, her hair in a messy bun. And that was it. She was left alone with her thoughts. Her parents were home, so she was all alone. No laundry running, no dishwasher, no appliances at all. And she hated it. "Tomorrow, I'll tell him. I'll say it to his face, and he'll say yes! He has to... right? I mean, he said he'll always be cheering for me, he said he's happy for me, so he has to say yes... right?" She whispered to herself as she buried her face in the bubbles.

About thirty minutes or so later, she stood up and wrapped a towel around herself, unplugging the drain to let all of the water run out as she went to her room to get dressed. Once decent, she picked up her phone and contemplated texting him. In her phone, she had wrote _'listen to me. just for tomorrow, can you, please? my heart's so selfish'_ ready to send. She stared at the text for a minute, her eyebrows furrowing. "He wants me to be serious? Is that what he said? Doesn't he know I can't do that? Why does he think I have to keep rehearsing it on him like this? I don't have to be serious, as long as I'm honest, right?" She whispered to herself, knowing that he'd be able to tell if she was lying. Deciding against the text, she tossed it on the floor and groaned. Immediately regretting that decision, she stood up to go get it.

The next morning, she got up and got dressed and ate breakfast normally, her mom watching some weird fortune teller show in the living room. Listening to some of the words, she shook her head. "'Super Duper Lucky'? Like I care." She scoffed, quickly darting upstairs to rummage around in her mother's makeup, once again proving that she cares about something she initially said she didn't. "Just for today..." She told herself as she looked around at her mother's antique jewelry.

There was a knock on the door, jerking her from her daze in the mirror. She honestly could not believe how well her mother's makeup suited her. She quickly grabbed her bag and ran downstairs, waving goodbye to her mom, then running to the door, surprised by who it was. "Neil, hey..." She smiled.

He froze.

"Neil?"

"..."

"Neil!" She poked his forehead, furrowing her eyebrows at him.

He shook his head wildly and gulped. "Wow, uh, hey, Nikki. What did you..."

"Oh, this?" She shrugged it off and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. "I decided today would be the day I finally confess my feelings, and I wanted to look my best."

"And not because your fortune was that you'd be super lucky today?"

"You watched that too?"

"My dad was."

"Oh. Well, no, that's not the reason. Hey, where's Max?" She asked curiously as she stepped around Neil and began on the journey to school.

Neil followed after her, his bag over his shoulder as he clenched the fabric tight. "I knocked on his door, and his dad answered. It turns out that he left for school about thirty minutes ago. I was shocked."

"Really? Thirty minutes ago? Was he trying to set a world record for how early you can arrive to class? Or was he just trying to show us up?" Nikki giggled a bit.

"I suppose it's possible it could be both. Anyway, who're you confessing to today?" Neil asked excitedly, bouncing on his heels a bit.

She ignored him. And the two continued on the walk, until they arrive at school five minutes later. The walk was silent, but neither of them really minded. It was Max who always hated the silence, it drove him insane. Which is funny, because Max is always the first to yell at them when they're making too much noise. They walked throught the double doors, and Neil practically had to drag Nikki through the hall, as kids kept stopping them to look at her and her new makeover.

They stepped inside the classroom, and Max was in his usual spot in the back, his hands stuffed in his hoodie's pockets. He looked over at the two, about ready to make some shitty witty remark about how late they were, then his eyes landed on Nikki and his jaw dropped. His face burned a bright red, and he noticed a lot of other students staring as well. It was understandable! Nikki was always the type to freak out whenever anybody tried to paint her nails, and here she was with lipstick, eyeshadow, mascara, even foundation, and even used an eyebrow brush.

Nikki made her way over to her spot in the corner, next to Max, with Neil directly in front of her, and looked out the window, ready for class to start. She felt Max's eyes on her almost throughout the entire lesson, but she was too embarrassed to even glance in his direction, so she didn't. The rest of the school day went on like this, they switched classes quite a few times and sometimes they weren't seated next to each other, but she could feel his eyes on her at least some point in every lesson, and it really bugged her. Did she really look that weird that he felt the need to stare? Didn't he know that's rude?

The end-of-school bell rang, signalling their time was up, then Nikki stood up and shoveled her folders and stuff inside of her bag, just like she did the previous day.

"Hey, Nik," Max turned to her and tapped her shoulder.

She looked back at him and gave him a half-smile. "Yes?"

"You're... really going for it today, aren't you?" He asked, pain hidden behind his words, with a fake smile plastered on his face.

"Of course." She looked around and noticed everyone else had already shuffled out. She decided it was either now or never. "Max...?"

"Hey, no sweat." Max grinned brightly. "I'm really cheering for you."

 _Okay, say it for real this time! No more lies!_ She took a deep breath as she blurted out her next words, "Max, I- I..."

"Nikki?"

"Sorry, I know I lie all the time! But I've liked you for a really long time now!" She clenched her fists and looked away from him desperately. She gulped. "Please don't make me keep on going, words I can't rehearse..."

He looked down at her with wide eyes, trying his best to fight back the smile threatening to seep through. "Are you serious?" He asked, to which she nodded vigorously. Feeling no more need to hide it, he smiled and chirped, "That's great, because, I like you too!"

She stood there with her heart over her chest, her eyes as wide as his had been a few seconds previous. Her heart was beating out of her chest, she was sure he could hear it. After a moment of silence, a giant smile made it's way back to her face as she giggled. This was the happiest she had been in a long, long time. What made her even happier, though, was the adorable look he was giving her. And she could tell he hasn't been this happy in a while either.

Maybe not all fairy tales have happy endings. Some end in heartbreak, some end in bloodshed, and some, not many, but some get happily ever after.

Who knows how this love story will end?

They're only just beginning.

-  
 **I know, I know, I should really learn how to proof-read these things. I stopped writing the two-shot "oh, shit" and immediately began writing this. I got no sleep last night, this took all fucking night. You better enjoy it, you little shits.**

 **Just kidding, love you guys!**

 **Please request what you think I should write about next!**

 **-Sbc**


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